Ten Ways the Mall Has Changed During the Recession

The shopping mall, that wonderfully iconic, most American of places, is changing, and the economic downturn bears a lot of the responsibility. Store names that were once ubiquitous have disappeared. Vacancy rates are seriously high. And just about everybody is discounting merchandise and looking for new ways to connect to consumers.

4. Speaking of kiosks, they’re everywhere nowadays—including new kiosks called eSpots at Macy’s that sell cameras and other electronics. You didn’t want to hear that pushy salesman spiel anyway, right? Chances are, you’ll be seeing fewer and fewer humans on shopping excursions in the future: Best Buy and Wal-Mart, for example, are testing out kiosks that will buy used video games.